No. 16, Glasgow

Dinner for two, Saturday 7 April 2018

* Photographs are from the restaurants website. They are illustrative of the fine standard of cooking but do not necessarily coincide with the meal we chose. 

Our first visit to the city of Glasgow. We booked at No. 16 for the second night of our short, hugely enjoyable stay. This restaurant was part of that huge enjoyment. Oh dear… didn’t even use a #SpoilerAlert.

I’d picked up an email at our hotel alerting me to the call which would go to our home number to confirm our booking. A home which we were not at. So on Friday I mobiled (making up words here?) ahead and Max cleared the decks and confirmed that she would look after us the next night.

Max duly welcomed us. Brut Prosecco for Mrs Cheoff and a revisit to Campari and soda for me as we scanned the menu.

It read pretty interestingly. These were our eventual choices.

Chicken liver parfait
with savoury granola, apple and calvados jelly
Much enjoyed by Mrs. Cheoff. The parfait was livery, silky smooth but the savoury granola stole the show. Sharp but sweet apple balanced out the savoury richness.

Lamb sweetbreads
with caramelised onions, foraged mushrooms and crispy shallots
My starter had all the right elements but not perfect execution. Sweetbread coating was rather soggy and the sweetbreads were unevenly cooked, the larger ones strangely being the most overdone. Flavours on the rest of the plate nearly made up for this. 

Pan roasted fillet of halibut
with citrus braised fennel, raisins, sea vegetables and capers
More smiles from my perfect partner. She deserved nothing less than a treat for her work in researching and planning this whole trip. The kitchen use recipes with ingredients which are known to work together. All that is needed after that is careful cooking. This had just that right care and attention.

Spiced monkfish tail
with roast cauliflower, bacon dashi, coriander and golden raisin puree
Tried and trusted combinations. More accomplished cooking. Except for the dashi. There just wasn't any punch of flavour from it. Almost as if chef had diluted it for fear of running out. 

Deep fried Heritage potatoes
Main portions here are sensible but one side didn't overdo things. We took Max's recommendation and ordered these. Certainly a satisfying flavour to honest spuds but after deep frying they had reverted closer to their par-boiled start. Closer to confit than crunchy.

Wine to accompany was PAUL CLUVER "DRY ENCOUNTER" RIESLING 2015 (Elgin, South Africa) which worked well with starters and mains.

Chocolate and blood orange pave
with blood orange sorbet and candied zest

Almond dacquoise, praline bavarois and white chocolate jelly
with coffee ice cream, and amaretti crumb

Desserts continued to show off the adventurous approach of the kitchen with techniques and finishes which gave pause before tucking in. I won't quibble for too long over the description of Mrs C's offering as a 'pavé'... this was more of a ganache/fondant mash-up. But it was darned tasty. Hence the end of quibble.

The end to my meal was perhaps the most complicated concoction of the evening. It had the potential to be the most interesting but ultimately did not deliver. Patisserie is a demanding affair but those three layers of dacquoise, bavarois and jelly delivered perfect textures but disappointing, muted flavours. Thankfully, the coffee ice cream was just right.

Max is a fine example of what front of house should be. She has that admirable quality of being able to react and adapt to a stream of constantly different customer complexions. She indulges and informs and is a great foil to what goes on beyond the kitchen hatch.

There is a vibrant atmosphere to the restaurant. People obviously enjoy coming here. Busy but relaxed staff provide excellent service and the kitchen have given their menu a lot of thought. The chefs' flair doesn't always guarantee perfect delivery but there is more than enough to excite the eye and please the palate. 

No Michelin mention for this place. Only two Glasgow eateries get as far as Bib Gourmand...no stars in this city. But a couple of AA rosettes for No. 16 isn't bad for starters and a Best Restaurant Experience 2017/2018 at the Scottish Thistle Awards endorses the quality which we enjoyed.

Let's round off by confirming that we intend returning to Glasgow. And, even if I have identified minor shortcomings in the cooking and despite plenty of close competition, we have every intention of returning to No. 16. They do so many things so well. 

Salt, Stratford-upon-Avon

Lunch - 9 February 2018

Our first experience of Salt was in June 2017. We had backed the Kickstarter run by chef Paul Foster and his wife Rhiain and our reward was a lovely Tasting Menu lunch. And then it was October and Jay Rayner published his review in The Observer. And then chef could finally stop crapping himself!

Mr Rayner’s experience and reaction was very much in line with ours. Close enough to stop me writing even a late review of my own. All the elements he identifies were enjoyed by us. Even the violent and bloody trauma of the RSC’s production of ‘Titus Andronicus’ later in the day couldn’t diminish happy memories of that meal.

On this second visit we ordered from the à la carte menu.

There was temporary distraction from good quality olives and smoked almonds. Deeper distraction arrived with the malted ‘mini muffin’ breads and ‘that’ house butter which smells and tastes fecund enough to be the product of intimate foreplay. No, I’m not trying to put you off. What... you’re booking a table now? That’s the ticket.

Two great starters arrived.

My Cured halibut, cep ragu, yellow chanterelles, crispy onion was fresh and deceptively gentle before deeper flavours took over. The fish was perfect. Melt-in-the-mouth raw. Raw but not raw. Mushrooms were given a light touch for the ragu and in the gently pickled chanterelles. The smoky tang of onion 'scraps' provided the final contrasts of flavour and texture.

Slow cooked duck egg, celeriac velouté, Dorset merguez
The richness of Mrs Cheoff’s bowl was insistent. It couldn’t be much otherwise given the trusted, classic ingredients. Two types of soupy, relatively sloppy components with the egg and the velouté. But the 'sausage' had been given enough surface crisp to restore textural balance. Indulgent stuff.

Mangalitsa pork, malted artichoke, salted pear, sprouting broccoli
This main was my high point of the meal. No good having a superb ingredient unless it is cooked with respect and understanding. Chef did not let me down. More importantly the supplier and the beast itself were not let down. Whatever had been done to the pear (brined, sous-vide… salt-baked?) it ate, skin and all, as the most perfect, firm but succulent fruit that you might wish for. Malted artichoke is one of those things which you can expect from Paul. An unassuming dab of something which suddenly reveals glorious texture and, even better, unexpected depth of flavour. I had cut off all the pork fat for eating. Its flavour will stay with me along with just a very few other food memories which are at the top of my dining out hit parade. I left a medallion of the meat. On the recovery phase of a stinking cold, I was so grateful that my nose and palate were pretty much back in working order. My appetite wasn't quite up to speed.

Hogget, lamb rump, hispi cabbage, goat’s curd
This was probably a slightly misjudged choice for Mrs C who, because she loves all things lamby, was following her starter with equally rich challenges in the main. That said, the ingredients and cooking shone out again. There is a lack of fuss in presentation here but ragged slices of hogget mean that a diner can choose how much of the fatty delights to trim for setting aside or for eating. In the end the richness was not quite balanced out by what should have been sharper and fresher hits from curd, cabbage leaf and monk’s beard. No matter… but it shows how more time spent exploring and understanding a menu with help from servers is not wasted.

We made a delightful revisit to off-dry German Riesling. Wines are cleverly chosen here and are offered at a sensible mark-up.

So far two thirds of our meal, four sixths if you like, had given large degrees of deliciousness, met with enjoyment and appreciation. But then our desserts arrived and the sweetness began to wane.

Papouasie milk chocolate, spiced orange cake, barley crisp
There was little wrong with any part of my finale except that it was a mean helping. Please understand that I have spent much time arguing with friends who manage to bemoan portion sizes considerably larger than my offering. I will always defend a chef who, in my opinion, has done enough to make us slow down and enjoy their creativity and hard work. But the rather wonderful cake here was served as four cubes no bigger than gaming dice. I cut each in two to prolong appreciation. My appetite was still sharp enough to hope for a more generous crisp than was offered. The rocher of chocolate was just perfect... but couldn't distance that feeling of being a little cheated.

If my pudding seemed lacking in generosity, Mrs C's appeared to suffer as well from the absence of decent ingredients.
Rhubarb, buttermilk ice cream
I suppose this might have been conceived as a riff on rhubarb crumble and ice cream. It did not satisfy anywhere in composition or delivery. A measly teaspoon of pink compote and a strangely tasteless green variety chopped into half centimetre chunks was all that represented the oh-so-seasonal rhubarb. Maybe there was a reference to the old-style way of dipping a raw stem into sugar but it didn't work. Cold and crunch from the two other elements but much confusion. Confusion mixed with much disappointment at the meagreness of it.

When the Facebook site offered a picture of a properly developed and finished dish shown below, it strongly suggested what can be achieved. Luscious pink rhubarb, bright peeled pistachios, whole and ground in an oily cake. Perhaps a sorrel granita? Included in a three course lunch at the same price as ours. More like it.

A good-looking dessert on offer from Salt for Mother's Day on Sunday 11th March 2018.

We fizzled out on a tea and a coffee without the accompaniment of petits fours. I’m not sure if this was an oversight or the result of their normal exclusion at lunch service.

Not a complete disaster but a stark contrast with our first meal. I don't know if the Grand Poobah of Gourmandise (that's you, Mr Rayner!) has returned like us. I hope he saw more consistency if he has or will see when he does. And if Mr or Mrs Michelin are visiting, they will demand that consistency before elevating chef and team to Bib Gourmand and beyond. They don't allow for excuses.

I don't have any stars to give out of course... but I can offer a possible excuse. We might have booked on the wrong day. Later, as we returned from seeing Edward 'Eddie' Elizabeth Hitler and others staging 'Twelfth Night' with great style my Twitter feed alerted me to another event in town that night.

So it's perfectly possible that our shiny stars at what must still be the top restaurant in Stratford had been distracted earlier by thoughts of impending glory. Glory for which I heartily congratulate them. All I ask is that they get back quickly to polish up their act and continue to do what they do best. Just do it even better. More often.

And we'll be back to check up on them... promise.

An Evening With Prue Leith CBE

Tuesday 25 April 2017

A visit to Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons is guaranteed to be special in so many ways. Add Prue Leith into the mix and you have a very special kind of special.

I’m hardly a seasoned celebrity follower. The last bash of this sort which I attended was the University of East Anglia Chinese Society’s New Year Dinner in 1973. But, if I’m honest, that night’s guest speaker, Michael Fish, only attained fame (notoriety?) fourteen years later when an exceptionally violent mid latitude depression hit the UK.

The start of Prue’s celebrity dates to earlier, in 1969, when she opened Leith's, her Michelin-starred restaurant. But let's now discard any gossip and celeb gloss which surrounds her - there is plenty of that, much of it from her own pen - and concentrate on the substance of the person who drew Jan (Mrs Cheoff) and me back to Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons far sooner than planned after our first visit there in September 2016.

View fullsize

PRUE LEITH

Early in the life of this blog I posted an awkward but affectionate tribute to Prue Leith. She introduced herself to each of us in La Belle Époque Conservatory before our meal. No lead piping, rope or candlestick in evidence. Instead, there was a flash from Prue’s spectacle frames, necklace and nail varnish, all providing eye-popping candy colour from a Kaffe Fassett palette. And there was another sparkle which lasted the entire evening. I’m sure Prue’s flashing eyes have been commented on before but the current extra twinkle is easily explained by her recent marriage to John Fairplay. He rounded off the champagne reception by complimenting (“loving”) Jan’s dress and growling at its ribbed and layered textures. I did begin to consider the appropriateness of his reaction. But, quickly recalling that he is a fashion guru and partners one of the second most accomplished women on the planet, I simply accepted his statements as confirmation of his and my good judgement and my wife’s great choice in clothes.

Prue punctuated the rest of the evening with perfectly timed talk before every course of our meal. Perfectly timed by husband John who marked start and finish with a wine glass and cutlery carillon.

Personal history and anecdote entertained us at each ‘interruption’. Having read Prue’s memoir, ‘Relish’, some stories were familiar but much new territory was covered. All led towards the inescapable fact that Prue’s present and long-established passion is that of writing. My previous suggestion that I would read no more than ‘The Gardener’ is now under serious threat after being given a copy of ‘The Food Of Love’. It would be rather impolite to reject a freebie, wouldn't it.

Place names indicating that we would spend the evening sitting right next to Prue and John induced evenly balanced attacks of consternation and delight. I spent a fair part of my time watching and listening to two women for whom I have the hugest admiration as they agreed on the importance of providing good food and good food education to children. Yes, I was involved in the world of teaching but I readily admit that Jan's passion and commitment almost always exceeded mine. Even one seat away, my slightly defective hearing meant that I joined in less than I would have liked. But I did manage to get sound advice from Prue on using our frozen glut of garden produce in pickles and chutneys.

Of course, any chat from Prue about #GBBO was off the menu. But, in the face of all sorts of social media nonsense, allow me to state here that her credentials for judging the nation’s favourite slice of broadcast baking are impeccable. Mary Berry is fabulous. Prue Leith is fabulous. Enjoying one so soon after the other will be fabulous.

GBBO is imminent and I am already preparing to practise restraint in my responses to internet reactions questioning Prue’s suitability as a judge. Why is it that social media is so full of silly arses whose opinions conflict with mine!

Bake Off will have been one large distraction from novel writing. Oh, there was that marriage thing as well! But Prue’s latest book, ‘The Prodigal Daughter’, has very recently appeared in paperback and readers are begging for the trilogy’s conclusion. It is on its way.

Prue has other distractions before that next novel comes out. She still remains active in plenty of other areas.

Recently made patron of #LetsGetCooking for the Children’s Food Trust, she and the venture are seriously tempting me to do some small thing more valuable than simply entertaining family and friends with my kitchen efforts. Aargh... two days after starting this post, universal infant school lunches are under serious threat (#GE2017) Oh dear. Shut up. Really shouldn't be mixing politics with pleasure.

In the wake of Saliha’s delightful victory in Masterchef 2017, Prue was quick to contact her with a view to working in support of @betterNHSfood 

*Update!

Back to our Great Milton evening for a final word. There was enough time to consider Prue’s assertion that she is currently behaving like a 17-year-old in her 70s... more like a 24-year-old as far as I could see. After forty years of mostly idyllic marriage, I can thoroughly recommend falling in love. 

Now, the following words are from Prue and I fall in with them readily - "I think the most important thing in the whole world is love and relationships and if you don't have them, it's quite bad." One obvious and lovely thing which came from our evening was to see how very good life is for Prue. Thank you, John.

View fullsize

No celebrity photos or ‘selfies’ were taken. No autographs were asked for. No pictures of the venue, food or other guests are here. Instead, Jan and I have indelible memories of a hugely enjoyable evening with great food and great people... and a free novel which I solemnly promise to read before putting it on eBay auction.

That’s where I’ll finish. Our feted star guest said that she had never been disappointed by the food at Le Manoir. Yes, Prue was the main course - but you'll find my report on the evening’s other irresistible dishes by linking through a click on the menu below... just as soon as I've written it! 

I can’t leave you without putting you out of your misery on one issue.

You think that Prue married the striker who once scored five goals in one international match for England, don’t you. And I’ll admit that I very nearly thought the same when I saw Malcolm Macdonald sporting Newcastle’s strip for next season!

View fullsize

Not John Fairplay